WRESTLING: Outstanding PAC-10 showing strength in numbers

By Don Seeley, sportsjournalregister.com

Monday, February 25, 2013

All things are indeed relative, even in wrestling believe it or not.

In the past, there have been some great sectionals (well before this year’s switch to league championships). In the past, there have been some great districts (well before this year’s switch to a three-district alignment). And in the past, there have been some great Class AA districts (most notably when Octorara, Oxford, Phoenixville and Pottstown — just to name four — were much smaller and part of the bracket).

Yes, the weight classes have changed quite a few times, even the postseason schedule has been altered along the way.

And there have been good Pioneer Athletic Conference teams, actually great teams — most notably Pottstown, Spring-Ford and former member Great Valley early on, and Upper Perkiomen, Boyertown and Owen J. Roberts of late – that have stepped up and above the rest in their respective February fights, too.

But in the past two weeks, the PAC-10 — collectively, that is — just may have been the best it’s ever been.

Instead of split up and scattered among three different sections, nine of the schools were together as one for the District 1-AAA West Tournament. Pope John Paul II was off on its own for the District 1-AA Tournament.

None disappointed. More important, none looked any less competitive, or driven, than the other.

Forget the final results, forget as difficult as it may be, that Owen J. Roberts, Spring-Ford, Upper Perkiomen, Boyertown and Methacton were first through fifth, respectively, in the final team standings. Forget, as difficult as it may be, that those handful of teams — along with rivals Perkiomen Valley and Pottsgrove — accounted for 18 of the 28 finalists, 9 of the 14 individual titles, and 25 of the 42 qualifiers for this week’s Southeast Regional.

Those numbers are indeed impressive. As are a couple of others, as in 49 of the district qualifiers (nine freshmen, 21 sophomores and 19 juniors) — 18 medalists among that group — were underclassmen.

But no single statistic was as impressive as the PAC-10’s overall body of work from the moment the district grind started Saturday morning until it ended Saturday night.

There were very few blowouts, or lopsided losses — despite what otherwise were thought of as mismatches in the beginning. And after PAC-10 wrestlers took care of business against some very good, underrated opposition from the Central League, they renewed some heated in-house rivalries of their own. There were 36 bouts featuring PAC-10 wrestlers against PAC-10 wrestlers — including five in the finals and four in the consolation finals, the latter of which unfortunately would end the season for Spring-Ford junior Mason Romano and the careers of Spring-Ford senior Sean Hennessey and OJR seniors Peter Fratantoni and Tyler Rogers.

The 152-pound weight class may have best exemplified how competitive, or driven the PAC-10 was over the weekend. No one in their right wrestling mind would’ve envisioned Boyertown freshman Gregg Harvey let alone Upper Perkiomen’s Ray Young in the final. But there they were. Harvey edged once-beaten and top-seeded Nick Giangiulio in one semifinal, and Young pinned PAC-10 runner-up Frankie Krauss in the other. Giangiulio then took out his frustrations by eliminating Central League champion Dylan Glenn and Fratantoni — a legitimate candidate for the MVP at OJR because of his versatility and accountability, or his season-long ability to capably fill some gaping holes in his team’s lineup due to injuries and illness.

At 220 pounds, the PAC-10’s five entries were a combined 6-0 against Central League opponents in the winners bracket (7-2 overall), before Boyertown’s Jordan Wood outlasted Pottsgrove’s Pat Finn one more time, this one ending 6-5 in what may have been the absolute best final of them all Saturday night.

And while most people are quick to point out the glaring weakness of Class AA wrestling in District 1, keep everything in perspective for a moment and consider how rewarding it was Pope John Paul II.

The Golden Panthers, who endured a winless dual-meet season and had little to shout about, had just eight wrestlers on Saturday. Half of them medaled. Three — Conor Staples, Kirk Cherneskie and Josh Bildstein — were golden, and Aaron Cusatis took third to make it a foursome for the trip to the regional at Wilson (West Lawn) this Friday.

For a team that was shut out three times and barely got into double-digits in a few other matches against its PAC-10 rivals, there was still no quit … an admirable trait that, unfortunately, few outside the sport recognize let alone understand.

*Congratulations are in order for The Hill School’s Johnny Cherneskie and Nick Flanigan, who were seventh and eighth, respectively, at 182 and 145 pounds.

Cherneskie (26-6), a post-grad who wrestled for both St. Pius X and Pope John Paul II, is the older brother of Kirk Cherneskie and the son of former Pottstown girls basketball coach John Cherneskie. He lost in the quarterfinals to unbeaten fourth-seed Isaiah Bellamy and in the consolation quarterfinals to eighth-seed Matthrew Apuzi. Flanigan (36-12) regrouped after a second-round setback to Sky Walker with three straight wins before again falling to Walker in the seventh-place final.

Hill had one other entry, junior Chad Saunders (37-8), who went 3-2 at 132 pounds. Despite having just three entries, the Blues were 26th overall in the 75-team field.